Just for Tonight
by BlueHatred
Summary: Harry and Draco bump into each other; they go down to the lake and talk to each other...


Just for Tonight   
  
  
  
Harry Potter invisibly entered the entrance hall one night. If he had been looking up at the Great Hall's ceiling, he would've seen a sky with a billion bright and twinkling stars and a crescent moon.  
  
He stopped at the hall's great doors, hesitating slightly. He had roamed the school grounds a million times, but never alone. Hermione and Ron were always by his side, Hermione making worried remarks about being caught and Ron telling her to shut up or they really would get caught.   
  
He didn't know why... Tonight, when he decided to take off, he had an strange, internal feeling that he should be alone on this midnight stride. And now he was hesitating. Maybe he should go back to Gryffindor tower, or maybe he should just stay right where he was for a while...  
  
A moment later, the door opened and Draco Malfoy, oblivious to Harry's existence, walked right into him. Harry, who was caught off guard, was thrown to the ground with a loud, "Ouch!"  
  
"What the hell was that?" Draco yelled out to the darkness, a hand on his forehead where he had collided with Harry.   
  
If Harry hadn't been in so many situations where he needed to keep his cool, the two of them would've most likely been caught by now.  
  
"Shut up!" Harry hissed. "We'll get caught!"   
  
"Who is that? Some ghost?" Draco asked, looking around wildly for the source of the voice.   
  
Harry jumped up and placed a hand over Draco's mouth. "Quiet!"  
  
Draco, in almost reflex, snatched Harry's wrist tightly. He gripped Harry's wrist so tightly that Harry had to bite his lip so he wouldn't yell out in pain. Draco seemed to feel the Invisibility Cloak's silvery cloth against him, so he pulled it off.  
  
"Well, well, well," Draco said with a quirked eyebrow... "What do we have here?"  
  
Harry rolled his eyes. "Let me go, will you? My wrist, it hurts - "  
  
Draco let go of Harry.   
  
"I didn't think the golden boy would want to risk any Gryffindor points..."  
  
"And I didn't think the rich pure-blood asshole would want to risk any Slytherin points," Harry retorted coldly.  
  
Draco smirked and held up his hands in defense. "I wasn't planning on starting any fights," he said. "It's much too late in the night for that."  
  
Harry narrowed his eyes.  
  
"Were you going out to the lake?"  
  
Harry's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.  
  
"It's a yes or no question," Draco said simply.  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, you really should go there. It's rather beautiful."  
  
Harry eyed Draco in a suspicious way.  
  
"What...? Are you hoping the lake monster is going to eat me?"  
  
Draco's smirk faded slightly and he sighed. "No, actually, I meant it."  
  
"There's a laugh... Draco Malfoy, actually meaning something."  
  
"Why do you have to be so mean to me all the time?"  
  
"Hm, lets see," Harry said in a sarcastic tone. "First of all, you've dissed Ron and his family on more than one occasion, you've tried to get Ron, Hermione, and me in trouble at least a hundred times, you've called Hermione a Mudblood - "  
  
"Okay, okay... I get the point. Well, why can't I have a second chance?" Draco asked, almost cutely. In fact, he asked it in such a way that even Harry Potter, his arch nemesis, couldn't help but smile slightly.  
  
"Do you really expect me to give you a second chance?"  
  
Draco sighed and averted his eyes to the ground. "You know, it really is a beautiful sight, out on the lake... You want to come with me?"  
  
Harry didn't really feel like watching his body being found floating on top of the lake, and he especially didn't feel like having to hang out with Nearly Headless Nick and Moaning Myrtle... But something inside of him told him to go. What could possibly happen? Well, besides the fact that he could 'mysteriously' drown...  
  
So Harry tugged the cloak over both himself and Draco, and the two walked down the wet steps and through the little tunnel. When the two had taken the cloak off and folded it, they pushed the boat out through the little curtain of vines and hopped into it. Harry took out his wand and muttered, "Lumos."   
  
Draco was right. It truly was a beautiful sight. Harry felt a warm feeling wipe over him... It felt like a memory had finally caught up with him.  
  
Harry glanced at Draco.  
  
Draco was watching the lake's dark, mysterious waters, which was illuminated slightly from the glow of Harry's wand.  
  
Harry sighed and looked up at the stars.  
  
"Why are you looking up there?" Draco asked. Harry's attention was taken away by the billions of mesmerizing stars.   
  
"Why?" Harry echoed.  
  
"Yeah, why? I mean, it's really stupid to...."  
  
Harry felt an old hatred burn inside of him. "Well, staring at the water is pretty dumb as well."   
  
"That's not what I meant," Draco sighed, looking back at the water. "What I meant was... Well, let me put it this way: you can either think about the future or the present."  
  
"What does that have anything to do with it?"  
  
"Simple," Draco smiled. "You're wondering what will happen in the future by looking up at the stars... You're trying to read what the stars will say about the future... But the present," Draco said, looking up at Harry, "the present is now..."  
  
Harry was reminded badly of Professor Dumbledore... But for some reason, Harry wasn't freaked out... He felt warm, and he felt as if he'd found a long lost friend. Harry smiled.   
  
"How deep. But you have to look at the future too... I mean, if you think only about the present and don't worry about what the future might hold, and what problems there will be, then we all might as well be dead... In the future, that is."  
  
"But if we spend all of our time worrying about the future, then the present will be so... lifeless... and boring..."   
  
"Work comes before play."  
  
"No, play comes before work."  
  
"What you're saying makes no sense. I can be worrying about what will happen in the future..." Harry said, and he was struck by a sudden thought. The future between himself and Draco.  
  
"Well, I can be worrying about what will happen right now..." Draco smiled.  
  
Harry sighed. "But... don't you wonder what's going to happen in the future? Don't you like the stars?"  
  
"I only wonder what's happening right now... And I like the lake better. I can see my reflection in it."  
  
Draco leaned over slightly and smiled at his reflection, which was seen clearly in the light of Harry's wand. He looked strangely white in the reflection.   
  
Harry sighed. Something about Draco Malfoy was different tonight, sure, but he should've known that Draco would always have his arrogance.   
  
"You're not that good looking," Harry muttered.  
  
"Oh, I'm not?" Draco frowned at his reflection.   
  
Harry was about to say, 'No, you're not,' when he hesitated for the second time in the night. Harry had lied many, many times before, but lying about Draco being good looking almost seemed like a sin at that moment in time. Draco's silver blond hair reminded Harry of those Muggle Herbal Essences commercials... It made him just want to run his fingers through that hair. And even before tonight, Harry had to admit that Draco that the prettiest eyes.   
  
"Actually... yeah, you are."  
  
Draco looked up in utter bewilderment. "Potter, handing out compliments? That's a first."  
  
"Yeah, well, don't get used to it," Harry said, looking back up at the stars.  
  
There was a slightly awkward silence.  
  
"How come you're never like this?" Harry finally asked.  
  
"Like what?" Draco asked, glancing up at Harry.  
  
"Like... like nice. Like... friendship nice."  
  
Draco laughed. "Well, first of all, I need to maintain a certain level of respect, and I get that respect by being - ah - dominant. Second of all, I offered my friendship to you before now, haven't I?"  
  
"Yeah, but - "  
  
"Haven't I?"  
  
Harry sighed. "Yeah, you have...."  
  
Draco sighed. "It doesn't matter now... We can never be friends."  
  
For some reason, that last statement made something in Harry's stomach flutter. Draco Malfoy, Harry's enemy, be... be his friend? It seemed perfectly all right... People change...   
  
"Why can't we be friends?" Harry asked.  
  
Draco shook his head. "My father... If he ever found out about us being on the lake like...."  
  
Like what? Like friends, or like something closer than friends?   
  
Harry looked at Draco, and he looked back at Harry. They just sat there, in the middle of the lake in a little oar boat, looking at each other. Lucious forest met freezing artic. Stars met lake.   
  
"It... It's pretty late," Harry murmured, breaking eye contact. "We should go back up to the castle...."  
  
Draco nodded, tearing his gaze away from Harry.   
  
The two rowed across the lake, disturbing the surface of the smooth glass. They went through the curtain of vines, unfolded the cloak and draped it over themselves, climbed up the tunnel, and reentered the entrance hall.   
  
Harry swallowed nervously as they took off the cloak; from the moment the cloak was draped over himself and Draco, they had been accidentally rubbing up against each other.  
  
"Well, I guess this is bye," Draco said. Harry could swear he heard longing in Draco's sentence.  
  
"Yeah," Harry said quietly. "Bye."  
  
But neither Draco nor Harry turned to leave. They both stood there, staring at each other, then -   
  
Harry didn't know what happened until long after it actually happened. It was strange, feeling another guy's lips pressed up against his own, but it felt so incredibly right. Harry was just wrapping his arms around Draco's neck when he realized what he was doing. He pulled away sharply, flushed.  
  
"Sorry," Draco said with his eyes averted to the floor. "I - I didn't know what came over me...."  
  
Harry nodded, turned around, and left quickly.  
  
Draco sighed. That was by far the dumbest thing he ever did - yet at the same time, it was the best feeling he had ever felt. Draco smiled. He was truly happy, even though the temporary friendship was just for tonight.   
  
Draco walked down towards the dungeons. If he had been looking up at the Great Hall ceiling, he would see a sky with a billion bright and twinkling stars and a crescent moon....  
  
  
  
AN: I know, that was the dumbest ending ever, but I couldn't think of anything! . Tell me what you think, please! 


End file.
